2016-2017 SOA Hickman Scholars Awarded

The Society of Actuaries (SOA) congratulates this year’s five new SOA James C. Hickman Scholars. Each recipient will receive a $20,000 stipend for the 2016-17 academic year. The recipients were chosen from a significant number of highly qualified applicants currently in (or applying to) actuarial science (or a related field) doctoral programs in the U.S. or Canada. Recipients have made good progress toward, or have already attained, an actuarial credential.

The 2016-17 SOA Hickman Scholars are:

1. Marie-Pier Côté, FSA (McGill University)
2. Hengxin Cui, (University of Waterloo)
3. Haibo Liu, (University of Iowa)
4. Adolph Okine (University of Wisconsin – Madison)
5. Tsun Yu (Jeff) Wong, ASA (University of Waterloo)

In addition, thirteen Hickman Scholars had their $20,000 stipends renewed for the 2016-17 academic year:

1. Ahmed Mohamed Abdelrahman Ahmed, FSA (University of Chicago)
2. Jean-François Bégin, ASA (HEC Montréal)
3. Douglas Bujakowski (University of Wisconsin – Madison)
4. Mingyu Fang, FSA, ACIA (University of Waterloo)
5. Mingbin (Ben) Feng, ASA (Northwestern University)
6. Philippe Gagnon, ASA (Université de Montréal)
7. Mirabelle Huynh, ASA, CERA (University of Waterloo)
8. Viet Nguyen, ASA (University of Nebraska – Lincoln)
9. James Risk (University of California, Santa Barbara)
10. Stephen Szaura, ASA (McGill University)
11. Huan Zhang (University of Iowa)
12. Jingong Zhang (University of Waterloo)
13. Kenneth Zhou (University of Waterloo)

The Board of Directors established the Society of Actuaries James C. Hickman Scholar program (formerly known as the Doctoral Stipend program) to increase the number of academic actuaries who hold a Ph.D. and an actuarial designation; and who intend to pursue academic careers in the United States or Canada. The program provides stipends to doctoral candidates who will, through their studies and careers, address research and education needs of the profession.

The SOA Board of Directors named its doctoral stipend program to honor James C. Hickman, FSA (deceased), former dean of the University of Wisconsin – Madison School of Business. During his more than 40-year academic career, Hickman made numerous contributions to teaching, research and scholarship, including co-authorship of the Actuarial Mathematics textbook. He also served the profession, including as a member of the SOA Board of Governors and trustee of the Actuarial Foundation.